Ellen GÉLINAS

Senior Faculty with William Glasser International and Glasser Canada. 

Education:

B.A. Major in Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario

M.Ed. In Adult Education, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Concentration in Counselling, research into humour.

Throughout the last 40 years, I continue to be interested and actively involved in facilitating, counselling, and sharing Choice Theory and Reality Therapy. My focus, right from the beginning, has been to help people help themselves.  What a privilege and a joy to be on a learning journey that has included:

• Sharing those incredible moments when someone has an epiphany, a major insight and sees how life can be different going forward;
• Being a member of a growing community that comes together from around the world to celebrate our learning and each other;
• Experiencing the effervescence, the pure delight, of being amongst humans who know how to grow their own mental health.  

The most recent conference I attended in person was in Bogota, Columbia.  As I checked out of the hotel, the young man working at the front desk wanted to know who we were, and commented that we all seemed so happy, and seemed to really enjoy being with each other, the whole time we were there.  I told him we reflect what we teach and it’s called Choice Theory!

About 7 years ago, I was engaged by my local public library to present a couple of workshops, all of which sit solidly on the foundation of Choice Theory.  When asked for additional titles, I suggested Take Charge of Your Life.  I offered the program in two 3-hour sessions. The group demanded more, telling me I could not leave them hanging.  So I developed a 12-hour program that has been offered twice a year ever since, at no charge to the participants. We even added an open discussion group once a month. Pure Adult Education!  When COVID moved in, we moved the course online!   

Now my focus is community actualization.  How do we connect to all the wonderful souls around the world who have chosen to live a life informed by the principles of Choice Theory?  How do we access and share the treasury of activities, programs, findings, and wisdoms developed over the last 5 decades?  How do we teach the world to Grow Good Mental Health?  This project is our now!